Power and Explosivness?

laurenwilcox · Post by **laurenwilcox** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:22 pm

I watch alot of UFC stuff and I watch some of them train...
I see them doing 2 or 3 reps of heavy weight and I'm wondering if that is going to help with power gains...
any advice?

TheAmazingOti · Post by **TheAmazingOti** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:32 pm

It can help if they keep the weight a little below their max and perform the reps explosively. If not, then they are most likely training strength.

Advice? As in, you would like advice for power? Plyometrics will help your explosiveness. Couple that with strength training and you will have more strength to display explosively, making it look even more impressive.

thekid24 · Post by **thekid24** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:43 am

what he said.

....and most UFC guys don't really train with heavy weights. they train mostly for performance and do circuits to improve stamina so they can go the distance when they compete.

check out randy couture's circuit workout:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 0571518938

TheAmazingOti · Post by **TheAmazingOti** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:00 am

Well they do a really bad job at it. I watch some of these "championship" "fights" on TV... After two minutes, they both look exhausted and it turns into a hug fest.

Awful shape. It makes me want to be a fighter when I get farther along in training.

laurenwilcox · Post by **laurenwilcox** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:22 am

biggest question is...
what is the best way to gain explosive power...i was wondering if it was by doing a few reps of heavy weights... thanks for the link tho

TheAmazingOti · Post by **TheAmazingOti** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:23 am

Heavy weights will not give you explosive power.

Plyometrics.

Heelus · Post by **Heelus** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:04 am

explosive power for what ?

Look at O lifter, they literally explode and yes they use heavy weights

Mystik · Post by **Mystik** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:48 am

TheAmazingOti wrote:Well they do a really bad job at it. I watch some of these "championship" "fights" on TV... After two minutes, they both look exhausted and it turns into a hug fest.

Awful shape. It makes me want to be a fighter when I get farther along in training.

A lot of factors come into play here. Yes conditioning is one of them, but you also have nerves. The weight cut also wreaks havoc on your endurance. Not to mention the fact that it's easy to sit on your couch and criticize them, bet when you actually step into the cage it's a completely different story. Fighting is a lot more tiring then you seem to think. 2 minutes of intense grappling and striking is tiring, trust me I know. Until you've been there and done it you really shouldn't be so judgmental.

To answer the question about explosive power. I mix it up between lifting heavy and plyometrics. Sprinting is one of favourite ways to get that explosive power in your legs, great for takedowns.

HoustonTexan · Post by **HoustonTexan** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:02 am

Mystik wrote:
TheAmazingOti wrote:Well they do a really bad job at it. I watch some of these "championship" "fights" on TV... After two minutes, they both look exhausted and it turns into a hug fest.

Awful shape. It makes me want to be a fighter when I get farther along in training.
A lot of factors come into play here. Yes conditioning is one of them, but you also have nerves. The weight cut also wreaks havoc on your endurance. Not to mention the fact that it's easy to sit on your couch and criticize them, bet when you actually step into the cage it's a completely different story. Fighting is a lot more tiring then you seem to think. 2 minutes of intense grappling and striking is tiring, trust me I know. Until you've been there and done it you really shouldn't be so judgmental.

To answer the question about explosive power. I mix it up between lifting heavy and plyometrics. Sprinting is one of favourite ways to get that explosive power in your legs, great for takedowns.

Why Mystik said x1000. If you have never been in a fight that involves wrestling like moves and other grapples you should not even open your mouth. I trained at this boxing/MMA gym in home town over winter break because they had a special for college students that was cheaper than gym. I did a few boxing sparring fights and a few MMA sparring fights. Sparring in MMA had me worn down so fast it was incredible.

TheAmazingOti · Post by **TheAmazingOti** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:16 pm

I have been there and I know it's tiring.

That's why they should train better.

HoustonTexan · Post by **HoustonTexan** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:21 pm

TheAmazingOti wrote:I have been there and I know it's tiring.

That's why they should train better.

That's what you don't understand. These guys train like crazy. I forget the guys name but he runs ten miles a day and then does normal MMA workouts. You saying he isn't training hard enough even though he's tired after a few round? god you're an idiot. These guys train like crazy it's just that nobody can handle that much stress over time.

TheAmazingOti · Post by **TheAmazingOti** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:22 pm

And you're a jackass.

Just drop it and forget I said anything. Nothing you can say will change opinion.

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:49 pm

lauren - for power the stronger you are the more potential for explosiveness you have...so if i can squat 150kgs and you can squat 50kgs then obvioiusly potential is far gretaer to possess a greater power output then you so increasing strength is the first port of call here...the aim is to deadlift/squat 1.5 x your bodyweight...low level plyomtrics can be used before then to form a base for them but some medium and high level plyo's will probably need to be held off until you can do squat or deadlift those wts...generally and in all those shitty personal trainer courses it's said that doing 3 - 5 reps builds power which is complete bullshit...power is something done quickly...what they are doing is basic strength work which is what you have seen the UFC blokes do i assume

kid - he's doing complexes there which is a series of exercises performed all in a row with the same wt...they are great for endurance even though half of the exercises he's doing are shit technique wise (those lunges were terrible)...i doubt very strongly that he doesn't supplement that with some mass strength/explosiveness work and if he doesn't, he should be

oti - heavy wts can give you some explosiveness byt best overall results are acheived with max strength and plyo work obviously but one of them by themselves won't work as your cup is only half full

texan - 10mile runs? for what? that's insane what he's doign, hope he still isn't doing it...i haven'y seen much of it but i haven't seen any 45min jogs in any of the fights i've seen

HoustonTexan · Post by **HoustonTexan** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:45 pm

The name completely slips me but I was reading about him on t-nation. He's like a bear, he's about 230+lbs and runs 10 miles almost daily and only weight trains with kettlebells then does regular sparring and MMA training and he's a damn good fighter.

laurenwilcox · Post by **laurenwilcox** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:20 pm

swanso- you said i should be able to squat 1.5 times own weight, do you mean all the way 90 because im already having difficulties doing full sets of 125lbs, do you think i should try 170lbs and just do a few reps.?
ps. im only like 112lbs.